An engineer of the United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) checks a 12-inch wafer at the company's factory in Tainan Science Park, southern Taiwan in 2006. Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp said net profit in the three months to March plunged 70.2 percent year-on-year due to falling revenues and a strong local currency. (AFP)

“This projected growth reconfirms that the economic cycle trough seen in the first quarter signalled that the semiconductor industry’s multi-quarter inventory correction has subsided.”

The company’s revenues in the first three months stood at Tw$28.1 billion, down 15.5 percent from the previous year.